When I say that, I don’t mean I wrecked my car, or my depression got the better of me (at least not until the evening) I mean a physical crash–I spent almost all day lying around my sister’s house, recovering from the whirlwind that was my birthday.

Speaking of my birthday, it was one of the best I’ve had as an adult. Good job, Sis!

Sis and the Bro-in-Law first took me to lunch at Red Iguana, which is very probably my favorite restaurant in SLC, but one I don’t get to eat at enough. I was very brave there, and tried something new–I’m not an adventurous eater. I’d like to be, but that’s how I find out about food allergies. Guess how I know I’m allergic to lychee?

Anyway, I ordered a dish called chilaquiles. It was tortilla chips with chorizo, egg, salsa espanolia, and mole pobliano. I’d had an investigator make mole for me on my mission, but I didn’t like it then, so I was a bit hesitant to try it here–despite Guy Fieri raving about it on his show. My verdict? The first bite was amazing. The second bite was good. The third bite was okay. By the fourth bite, I was wondering if I had to finish it. If anybody at Red Iguana is reading this, chilaquiles would work better as an appetizer. It’s too…flavorful for a main course, and there really isn’t anything to cleanse the palate between the bites of amazingness, so it gets to be too much too soon.

We then went to the zoo. G is a funny kid. He’s the only kid I know who will get more excited about seeing a firetruck driving on the road outside the zoo than the actual animals at the zoo itself. I had fun though–the weather was perfect, it wasn’t too crowded, and the animals were lookin’ for love, which meant that they were rather demonstrative. G even noticed that the penguins were giving each other ‘piggy back rides’. Yeah…

After the zoo, we headed back to Sis’s house, where I watched Sis and the Bro-in-Law work in the garden. Technically, I was watching E while Sis and the Bro-in-Law worked in the garden, but we were outside so we could keep talking to each other. My parents then showed up, and we went to dinner at my other favorite restaurant in SLC, Sampan.

I was still feeling adventurous, and wanted to order something I’d never have before. The Bro-in-Law suggested ordering something I didn’t even know what it was, like “Baawwk Chow and abe-alon-ee mushrooms”. When I told him that I knew a) the correct pronunciation of bok choy and b) that it was cabbage, he changed his mind. I ended up ordering Empress Duck and miso soup. I’d never had duck before, or miso for that matter.

So, miso is made with tofu. I learned that if you are allergic to soymilk, you are also allergic to tofu. Fortunately, Dad had a benadryl in his pocket for his hay fever, that I was able to take as soon as I felt my throat starting to close up. The soup was good, though.

The duck was AMAZING. It was greasy, and I don’t know how much of that was the meat itself or how it was cooked. Either way, I now have a favorite dish at Sampan.

While we’re on the topic of food, I didn’t even get a cake. It just didn’t turn out. We were going to make cake balls, but by the time we got back from the restaurant, we were all too tired for one more project, and we just didn’t get around to it the next day.

Saturday, I helped Sis get ready for HER birthday party. I was born exactly one week before my sister’s first birthday, so for one week out of the year, we’re the same age. I turned 29 on Friday, so Sis will turn 30 this next Friday. She’s celebrating by going into hiding for the whole week. We started to plan a menu, then decided we should go to NPS to see if there was a good deal on meat.

What is NPS? Well…in the Bro-in-Law’s words, it’s a store that sells whatever fell off the back of a truck. It sells food that is slightly past it’s expiration date, or that the containers have been damaged, that grocery stores can’t sell. It also sells a variety of other stuff. Going there is a bit like a treasure hunt. You can find good stuff and good deals, but mostly…well…

Mom and Dad had never been there before, and had a lot of fun looking around. I did too, for that matter. I think I won, though. In a shelf full of books that mostly had titles like The Virgin’s Wedding Night, I found a copy of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. For 50¢ each. That’s less than I could have gotten them for at a thrift store, for new books! Never mind that I’ve read them both before.

I do have to give credit to Dad for that find. I glanced at the dirty-sounding titles of the books, and decided I wasn’t interested. He spotted Fahrenheit 451, but because he already has a copy of it, he wasn’t interested. It made me look closer though, and I found the Steinbeck. And those were the only two books on the whole shelf that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen reading in public.

I came home on Saturday evening, to find that a) my lily of the valley had doubled in size while I was away for two days, and b) my internet wasn’t working, and my back-up plan, aka, piggybacking off my downstairs neighbors, was no longer an option. They went and set up a password, the little stinkers. Hence the late update on the weekend’s activities. Still, a little time away from the internet never hurt anyone, right?

I carefully prepared my Sunday School lesson (but not as carefully as I should have, I realized when I was sitting in Sacrament that I had neglected to do two or three things that I meant to), only to have no one show up to my class. EVEN THOUGH I saw every single one of my class members in Sacrament meeting. It was okay, though. I wasn’t really in the right mind-frame to teach anyway. I did have a good conversation with my Temple Committee Co-chair. He just got back from a mission to England, and has a cute little accent. It’s not fair. When I came back from a mission to Canada, I only brought with me a penchant to say “eh”.

This morning’s adventure has consisted mostly of Lulu’s digestive tract, so I’ll spare the details. The other adventure was being on the phone for 45 minutes, at least 30 of which were spent on hold, and talking to five different people to get my internet working again. So frustrating. But, here I am, and all is well.

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Somehow, sis talked me into spending the day at her house. It was actually pretty easy. She just handed the phone to G, and had him ask if I wanted to go to the zoo with him. I like the zoo, and I like G, so the answer was, naturally, yes.

The plan was to go yesterday, after Max and Lulu got back from the groomers, but they took much longer than expected, and by the time I made it to SLC the zoo gates were closed. So, the plans for today are lunch at Red Iguana and then the zoo. I’m super excited!

Birthday’s are a big deal in my Bro-in-Law’s family,a big enough deal that even though I’ve only been awake for an hour, I’m considering spending next years birthday here too. G is busy making me a cake:

with ample help from Sis, of course.

He’s been talking about going to the zoo non-stop since yesterday. I was greeted at his house with “We’re going to the zoo tomorrow. We’re going to say hi to the elephants, but don’t go in the pen!”

Today should be a good day. To ensure that, I’m going back to bed.

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It seems like every family has a month that has the most birthdays in it. Well, in my family, that month happens to be February, with my dad, my grandpa, two uncles, three cousins, and two first cousins once removed all with birthdays–not to mention the Bro-in-law whose birthday is in the first week of March.

Every year, we have a big party to celebrate the February birthdays. I use the term “party” loosely, because my family is the biggest bunch of grumps that I know. Frankly, it’s not a family party until someone gets their feelings hurt. Unfortunately, it’s usually my angel grandmother.

This year, the party will be in Utah county. It also happens to fall in the same time frame that a good friend of mine, who happens to be male, will be in town visiting. I’ve been talking about this guy a lot, and my family knows how excited I am to see him. Apparently, I’ve been talking about him too much.

I was talking to my Dad on the phone last night, and in the background I could hear my mom:

Mom (in the background): “Is that Cori?”

Dad: “Yep”

Mom (yelling): “Grandma says to bring [The Giant] to the party!”

Fortunately for The Giant, he won’t be in town the day of the party. I have to say I’m relieved. Not only do I like this guy too much to subject him to the family, I’m not sure I could live with the teasing of bringing what would be considered a date…